In consumer retail environments today, there is a desire on the part of brands and retailers to place messages in front of the consumer at their “point of purchase” or “point of product selection”. Historically in retail, banking, quick service restaurants (QSR), hospitality, etc. (and out-of-home advertising in general) this messaging has been paper based signage, but in the past several years, this has evolved to be digital signage (consisting of a plasma or LCD display, a media player, and network connectivity) to drive a more dynamic message to the consumer using graphics, motion video, interactivity and a more dynamic visual presentation to gain the customers' attention and thus have the customer notice the message or product promotion in front of them.
This methodology has worked well, however by the very nature of LCD panels and their associated hardware, the use of digital signage in retail sites and out-of-home environments is limited by the way in which the LCD panels function. Primarily, LCD panels are designed as a visual display technology which presents a message to the consumer, but obstructs the product or any object behind the LCD panel because the LCD panel is opaque. Because traditional LCD panels obstruct the view of any product behind them and cause “line of site” challenges within the retail environment, they are limited in their effective use. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved digital display systems.